It had traveled by ship down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, across the Gulf to Panama, through the Sea of Cortez to Guaymas, and thence by ox-cart to Tubac.
Cross and Mowry, who agreed on their aspirations for the development of Arizona, but represented rival mining interests, settled their differences in a bloodless duel on 8 July 1859.
Cross's aggressive editorial policy continued to bring political pressure on the mining company which owned the Arizonian.
Cross lingered in Tubac for a while, but with the outbreak of the Civil War, he returned to his native New Hampshire, took a colonel's commission, and died of wounds at the battle of Gettysburg in 1863.
Upon purchase of the newspaper, Mowry moved the Arizonan to Tucson, where he envisioned it as a valuable tool in his drive for territorial organization and a delegate's seat in Congress.
Little is known of the paper's continued troubles, but Turner quit within a month and in his farewell issue advertised a pair of Pocket Derringers, apparently standard armament for editors in those days.
The region was subsequently invaded by General Carleton's California Column, which sent the Confederate forces fleeing to Texas.
With all of New Mexico reincorporated into the Union, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed the establishment of a new Territory of Arizona on February 23, 1863, carved from its western half.
Tucson was regarded as a hotbed of secessionist sentiment and not suitable as territorial capital, so the town momentarily declined in political importance, and with it the ability to support a newspaper.
The Washington hand press was retired and replaced with more modern equipment, and the newspaper was awarded the contract for printing all government documents.
Dooner altered the image of the Southern Arizonian considerably, renaming it the Arizonan since he considered the old spelling an "unwarrantable construction."
Territorial Delegate and former Governor Richard McCormick had in the meantime acquired an interest in the newspaper, and Dooner willingly served his political ambitions without ever having met him.
Four days later a new newspaper appeared Tucson, the Citizen, edited by John Wasson, and supporting McCormick's candidacy for re-election.
Dooner continued casting aspersions on Wasson and the Citizen, but finally on April 29, 1871, he ceased publishing, and the Arizonian was no more.